Caeleb Dressel enters first swim meet since last June

Seven-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel entered next week’s Atlanta Classic, organizers said, which would be his first swim meet since withdrawing during June’s world championships on unspecified medical grounds.

Dressel last provided a detailed update on his career on Sept. 4, saying he was happy, had not swum since worlds and missed swimming. He ended the social media post with the line, “I’ll be back.”

Since, Dressel’s social media posts indicated that he returned to swimming at his training base at the University of Florida. He also took part in a USA Swimming relay camp in Austin, Texas, last week.

The Atlanta Classic and Dressel share a sponsor in Speedo.

The next major meet is the U.S. Championships from June 27-July 1, where the top two per individual event qualify for worlds later in July in Japan.

Dressel is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100m butterfly and the 50m and 100m freestyles, joining Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only men to win three individual swimming events at one Olympics. He won two relay golds both in 2016 and in 2021.

He is also the world record holder in the 100m fly and, aside from the since-banned super-suit era, the fastest man in history in the 50m free.

In Dressel’s absence, Olympic 200m fly champion Kristof Milak of Hungary became the new world champion in the 100m fly. In the 100m freestyle, 18-year-old Romanian David Popovici won the world title and then broke the world record. Ben Proud of Great Britain won the 50m free at worlds.

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Tori Bowie, a three-time 2016 Olympic sprint medalist and 2017 World 100m champion, has died at age 32, according to her management company and USA Track and Field.

“We’ve lost a client, dear